Ready for plants this week

[captotterboy]

Still having issues keeping the driftwood down, but it is better than it was.

 

[Nils]

Looks good! What's the stock going to be?

 

[captotterboy]

Thanks

Plants;
3 Lugwigia Natans "Super Red"
2 Java Fern
6 Echinodorus "Vesuvius"
2 Anubias Nana Petite
2 or 3 Banana Plants
A mat or two of java moss

Fish;
2-3 Dwarf Puffers
Some trial Red Cherry Shrimp
If they get eaten, maybe something larger like ghost shrimp
If they get eaten, some sort of smaller pleco

Ideally, the puffers will leave the shrimp alone so I can have a puffer/shrimp or puffer/dwarf crayfish tank.

 

[Nils]

Oh yeah, I remember your thread on that. Your shrimp should be good, only baby shrimp in danger.

 

[captotterboy]

Only one way to find out!

My LPS sells ghost shrimp $1/3. So even if the puffers eat them over a week or two I still get a decent cleaning service in that time.

I have been meaning to ask you; assuming I have 3 DPs in the 10g, with a filter strong enough for a 20g, how many RCS is pushing the bioload?

 

[Nils]

RCS have a super low bio load. IMO in an over filtered 10 gallon you could have around 200, people say that you can have 25 in a gallon, with lots of people having a lot more than 100 in 2.5 gallon tanks.

 

[captotterboy]

Whoa! I did not realize it was that many. I guess, in a 10g Algae and biofilm are not going to be enough for, say, 25 and I am going to have to supplement with something else?

 

[Nils]

Shrimp really like established tanks, meaning that they have been set up for 2+ months. This allows lots of biofilm and organisms to have been established. The biofilm is a shrimps main form of nutrition. You can supplement their diet with algae wafers and pretty much any fish food, I use Hikari algae wafers and they love it.